Free Will and Human Agency: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments

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Publisher : Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments in Philosophy
ISBN 13 : 9780367647575
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (475 download)

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Book Synopsis Free Will and Human Agency: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments by : Garrett Pendergraft

Download or read book Free Will and Human Agency: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments written by Garrett Pendergraft and published by Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments in Philosophy. This book was released on 2022-06-15 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new kind of entrée to discussions of free will and human agency, Pendergraft illuminates 50 puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. Assuming no familiarity with the topic, each chapter describes a case, explains the questions that it raises, summarizes some of the key responses, and provides suggested readings.

Free Will and Human Agency: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000605353
Total Pages : 237 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis Free Will and Human Agency: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments by : Garrett Pendergraft

Download or read book Free Will and Human Agency: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments written by Garrett Pendergraft and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-07-21 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new kind of entrée to contemporary discussions of free will and human agency, Garrett Pendergraft collects and illuminates 50 of the most relevant puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. Assuming no familiarity with the philosophical literature on free will, each chapter describes a case, explains the questions that it raises, briefly summarizes some of the key responses to the case, and provides a list of suggested readings. Every chapter is accessible, succinct, and self-contained. The puzzles are divided into five broad categories: the threat from fatalism, the threat from determinism, practical reason, social dimensions, and moral luck. Entries cover topics such as the grandfather paradox, theological fatalism, the consequence argument, manipulation arguments, luck arguments, weakness of will, action explanation, addiction, blame and punishment, situationism in moral psychology, and Huckleberry Finn. Free Will and Human Agency is an effective and engaging teaching tool as well as a handy resource for anyone interested in exploring the questions that have made human agency a topic of perennial philosophical interest. Key Features: Though concise overall, offers broad coverage of the key areas of free will and human agency. Describes each imaginative case directly and in a memorable way, making the cases accessible and easy to remember. Provides a list of suggested readings for each case.

Epistemology: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000417026
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Epistemology: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments by : Kevin McCain

Download or read book Epistemology: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments written by Kevin McCain and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-26 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new kind of entrée to contemporary epistemology, Kevin McCain presents fifty of the field’s most important puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. Assuming no familiarity with epistemology from the reader, McCain titles each case with a memorable name, describes the details of the case, explains the issue(s) to which the case is relevant, and assesses its significance. McCain also briefly reviews the key responses to the case that have been put forward, and provides a helpful list of suggested readings on the topic. Each entry is accessible, succinct, and self-contained. Epistemology: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments is a fantastic learning tool as well as a handy resource for anyone interested in epistemological issues. Key Features: Though concise overall, offers broad coverage of the key areas of epistemology. Describes each imaginative case directly and in a memorable way, making the cases accessible and easy to remember. Provides a list of Suggested Readings for each case, divided into General Overviews, Seminal Presentations, and Other Important Discussions.

Aesthetics

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Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000837505
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Aesthetics by : Michel-Antoine Xhignesse

Download or read book Aesthetics written by Michel-Antoine Xhignesse and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aesthetics: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments is a teaching-focused resource, which highlights the contributions that imaginative scenarios—paradoxes, puzzles, and thought experiments alike—have made to the development of contemporary analytic aesthetics. The book is divided into sections pertaining to art-making, ontology, aesthetic judgements, appreciation and interpretation, and ethics and value, and offers an accessible summary of ten debates falling under each section. Each entry also features a detailed annotated bibliography, making it an ideal companion for courses surveying a broad collection of topics and readings in aesthetics. Key Features: Uses a problem-centered approach to aesthetics (rather than author- or theory-centered) making the text more inviting to first-time students of the subject Offers stand-alone chapters, allowing students to quickly understand an issue and giving instructors flexibility in assigning readings to match the themes of the course Provides up-to-date, annotated bibliographies at the end of each entry, amounting to an extensive review of the literature on contemporary analytic aesthetics

Philosophy of Language

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Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000829618
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophy of Language by : Michael P. Wolf

Download or read book Philosophy of Language written by Michael P. Wolf and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-02-08 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers readers a collection of 50 short chapter entries on topics in the philosophy of language. Each entry addresses a paradox, a longstanding puzzle, or a major theme that has emerged in the field from the last 150 years, tracing overlap with issues in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, ethics, political philosophy, and literature. Each of the 50 entries is written as a piece that can stand on its own, though useful connections to other entries are mentioned throughout the text. Readers can open the book and start with almost any of the entries, following themes of greatest interest to them. Each entry includes recommendations for further reading on the topic. Philosophy of Language: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments is useful as a standalone textbook, or can be supplemented by additional readings that instructors choose. The accessible style makes it suitable for introductory level through intermediate undergraduate courses, as well as for independent learners, or even as a reference for more advanced students and researchers. Key Features: Uses a problem-centered approach to philosophy of language (rather than author- or theory-centered) making the text more inviting to first-time students of the subject. Offers stand-alone chapters, allowing students to quickly understand an issue and giving instructors flexibility in assigning readings to match the themes of the course. Provides up-to-date recommended readings at the end of each chapter, or about 500 sources in total, amounting to an extensive review of the literature on each topic.

Philosophy of Mind

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003818331
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophy of Mind by : Torin Alter

Download or read book Philosophy of Mind written by Torin Alter and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-02-12 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imaginative cases, or what might be called puzzles and other thought experiments, play a central role in philosophy of mind. The real world also furnishes philosophers with an ample supply of such puzzles. This volume collects 50 of the most important historical and contemporary cases in philosophy of mind and describes their significance. The authors divide them into five sections: consciousness and dualism; physicalist theories and the metaphysics of mind; content, intentionality, and representation; perception, imagination, and attention; and persons, personal identity, and the self. Each chapter provides background, describes a central case or cases, discusses the relevant literature, and suggests further readings. Philosophy of Mind: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments promises to be a useful teaching tool as well as a handy resource for anyone interested in the area. Key Features: Offers stand-alone chapters, each presented in an identical format: - Background - The Case - Discussion - Recommended Reading Each chapter is self-contained, allowing students to quickly understand an issue and giving instructors flexibility in assigning readings to match the themes of the course. Additional pedagogical features include a general volume introduction as well as smaller introductions to each of the five sections and a glossary at the end of the book.

Bioethics

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Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003817181
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Bioethics by : Sean D. Aas

Download or read book Bioethics written by Sean D. Aas and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-02-12 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bioethics: 50 Puzzles, Problems, and Thought Experiments collects 50 cases—both real and imaginary—that have been, or should be, of special interest and importance to philosophical bioethics. Cases are collected together under topical headings in a natural order for an introductory course in bioethics. Each case is described in a few pages, which includes bioethical context, a concise narrative of the case itself, and a discussion of its importance, both for broader philosophical issues and for practical problems in clinical ethics and health policy. Each entry also contains a brief, annotated, list of suggested readings. In addition to the classic cases in bioethics, the book contains discussion of cases that involve several emerging bioethical issues: especially, issues around disability, social justice, and the practice of medicine in a diverse and globalized world. Key Features: Gives readers all chapters presented in an identical format: The Case Responses Suggested Readings Includes reference to up-to-date literature in journals devoted both to more generalist ethics and to bioethics Offers short and self-contained chapters, allowing students to quickly understand an issue and giving instructors flexibility in assigning readings to match the themes of the course Features actual or lightly fictionalized cases in humanitarian aid, offering a type of case that is often underrepresented in bioethics books Authored by three scholars who are actively involved in the central research areas of bioethics

Paradoxes of Free Will

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Publisher : American Philosophical Society
ISBN 13 : 9780871699268
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (992 download)

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Book Synopsis Paradoxes of Free Will by : Gunther Siegmund Stent

Download or read book Paradoxes of Free Will written by Gunther Siegmund Stent and published by American Philosophical Society. This book was released on 2002 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Driving human reason too far in the analysis of deep problems often leads to irresolvable inconsistencies and contradictions. In this 2002 J.F. Lewis Award-winning monograph, Gunther Stent traces the origins and development of the paradoxes of free will in this well-crafted introduction to philosophical debates regarding freedom of will. Free will poses one of the oldest and most vexatious philosophical problems, dating back to the beginnings of moral philosophy in ancient Greece. Pure theoretical reason implies that our actions are determined, while practical theoretical reason tells us that our will is free. Stent examines the arguments of moral responsibility versus determinism, from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to Immanuel Kant, Niels Bohr, and Max Planck.

Free Will

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262525798
Total Pages : 152 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis Free Will by : Mark Balaguer

Download or read book Free Will written by Mark Balaguer and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-02-14 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosopher considers whether the scientific and philosophical arguments against free will are reason enough to give up our belief in it. In our daily life, it really seems as though we have free will, that what we do from moment to moment is determined by conscious decisions that we freely make. You get up from the couch, you go for a walk, you eat chocolate ice cream. It seems that we're in control of actions like these; if we are, then we have free will. But in recent years, some have argued that free will is an illusion. The neuroscientist (and best-selling author) Sam Harris and the late Harvard psychologist Daniel Wegner, for example, claim that certain scientific findings disprove free will. In this engaging and accessible volume in the Essential Knowledge series, the philosopher Mark Balaguer examines the various arguments and experiments that have been cited to support the claim that human beings don't have free will. He finds them to be overstated and misguided. Balaguer discusses determinism, the view that every physical event is predetermined, or completely caused by prior events. He describes several philosophical and scientific arguments against free will, including one based on Benjamin Libet's famous neuroscientific experiments, which allegedly show that our conscious decisions are caused by neural events that occur before we choose. He considers various religious and philosophical views, including the philosophical pro-free-will view known as compatibilism. Balaguer concludes that the anti-free-will arguments put forward by philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists simply don't work. They don't provide any good reason to doubt the existence of free will. But, he cautions, this doesn't necessarily mean that we have free will. The question of whether we have free will remains an open one; we simply don't know enough about the brain to answer it definitively.

Philosophy through Science Fiction Stories

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350081248
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophy through Science Fiction Stories by : Helen De Cruz

Download or read book Philosophy through Science Fiction Stories written by Helen De Cruz and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-28 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together short stories by award-winning contemporary science fiction authors and philosophers, this book covers a wide range of philosophical ideas from ethics, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, and metaphysics. Alongside the introductory pieces by the editors that help readers to understand how philosophy can be done through science fiction, you will find end-of-story notes written by the authors that contextualize their stories within broader philosophical themes. Organised thematically, these stories address fundamental philosophical questions such as: *What does it mean to be human? *Is neural enhancement a good thing? *What makes a life worthwhile? *What political systems are best? By making complex ideas easily accessible, this unique book allows you to engage with philosophical ideas in entertaining new ways, and is an ideal entry point for anyone interested in using fiction to better understand philosophy.

A Theory of Virtue

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Publisher : Clarendon Press
ISBN 13 : 0191564494
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis A Theory of Virtue by : Robert Merrihew Adams

Download or read book A Theory of Virtue written by Robert Merrihew Adams and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 2008-10-23 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The distinguished philosopher Robert M. Adams presents a major work on virtue, which is once again a central topic in ethical thought. A Theory of Virtue is a systematic, comprehensive framework for thinking about the moral evaluation of character. Many recent attempts to stake out a place in moral philosophy for this concern define virtue in terms of its benefits for the virtuous person or for human society more generally. In Part One of this book Adams presents and defends a conception of virtue as intrinsic excellence of character, worth prizing for its own sake and not only for its benefits. In the other two parts he addresses two challenges to the ancient idea of excellence of character. One challenge arises from the importance of altruism in modern ethical thought, and the question of what altruism has to do with intrinsic excellence. Part Two argues that altruistic benevolence does indeed have a crucial place in excellence of character, but that moral virtue should also be expected to involve excellence in being for other goods besides the well-being (and the rights) of other persons. It explores relations among cultural goods, personal relationships, one's own good, and the good of others, as objects of excellent motives. The other challenge, the subject of Part Three of the book, is typified by doubts about the reality of moral virtue, arising from experiments and conclusions in social psychology. Adams explores in detail the prospects for an empirically realistic conception of excellence of character as an object of moral aspiration, endeavor, and education. He argues that such a conception will involve renunciation of the ancient thesis of the unity or mutual implication of all virtues, and acknowledgment of sufficient 'moral luck' in the development of any individual's character to make virtue very largely a gift, rather than an individual achievement, though nonetheless excellent and admirable for that.

Reasons and Persons

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Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191622443
Total Pages : 560 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Reasons and Persons by : Derek Parfit

Download or read book Reasons and Persons written by Derek Parfit and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 1986-01-23 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity. The author claims that we have a false view of our own nature; that it is often rational to act against our own best interests; that most of us have moral views that are directly self-defeating; and that, when we consider future generations the conclusions will often be disturbing. He concludes that moral non-religious moral philosophy is a young subject, with a promising but unpredictable future.

The Divine Foreknowledge

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 12 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis The Divine Foreknowledge by :

Download or read book The Divine Foreknowledge written by and published by . This book was released on 1842 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Philosophy Without Intuitions

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199644861
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (996 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophy Without Intuitions by : Herman Cappelen

Download or read book Philosophy Without Intuitions written by Herman Cappelen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The standard view of philosophical methodology is that philosophers rely on intuitions as evidence. Herman Cappelen argues that this claim is false, and reveals how it has encouraged pseudo-problems, presented misguided ideas of what philosophy is, and misled exponents of metaphilosophy and experimental philosophy.

Breakdown of Will

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521596947
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (969 download)

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Book Synopsis Breakdown of Will by : George Ainslie

Download or read book Breakdown of Will written by George Ainslie and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-03-19 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that our responses to the threat of our own inconsistency determine the fabric of human culture.

The Taming of Chance

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521388849
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (888 download)

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Book Synopsis The Taming of Chance by : Ian Hacking

Download or read book The Taming of Chance written by Ian Hacking and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1990-08-31 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book combines detailed scientific historical research with characteristic philosophic breadth and verve.

Randomness

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Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674020771
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (27 download)

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Book Synopsis Randomness by : Deborah J. Bennett

Download or read book Randomness written by Deborah J. Bennett and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the ancients' first readings of the innards of birds to your neighbor's last bout with the state lottery, humankind has put itself into the hands of chance. Today life itself may be at stake when probability comes into play--in the chance of a false negative in a medical test, in the reliability of DNA findings as legal evidence, or in the likelihood of passing on a deadly congenital disease--yet as few people as ever understand the odds. This book is aimed at the trouble with trying to learn about probability. A story of the misconceptions and difficulties civilization overcame in progressing toward probabilistic thinking, Randomness is also a skillful account of what makes the science of probability so daunting in our own day. To acquire a (correct) intuition of chance is not easy to begin with, and moving from an intuitive sense to a formal notion of probability presents further problems. Author Deborah Bennett traces the path this process takes in an individual trying to come to grips with concepts of uncertainty and fairness, and also charts the parallel path by which societies have developed ideas about chance. Why, from ancient to modern times, have people resorted to chance in making decisions? Is a decision made by random choice fair? What role has gambling played in our understanding of chance? Why do some individuals and societies refuse to accept randomness at all? If understanding randomness is so important to probabilistic thinking, why do the experts disagree about what it really is? And why are our intuitions about chance almost always dead wrong? Anyone who has puzzled over a probability conundrum is struck by the paradoxes and counterintuitive results that occur at a relatively simple level. Why this should be, and how it has been the case through the ages, for bumblers and brilliant mathematicians alike, is the entertaining and enlightening lesson of Randomness.